137 
M E R 
Cretenfis, and the treatife of Apuleius de Deo Socratis, 
He died in 1626. -The learned Salmafius was his fon-in- 
Jaw. Gen. Biog. 
■ MERCI'ER (Bartholomew), known under the name of 
the Abbe St. Leger, was born at Lyons in 1714. He en¬ 
tered into the religious fociety of St. Genevieve, of which 
lie became librarian. Louis XV. gave him the abbey of 
St. Leger of Soiffons, of which he was deprived, and re¬ 
duced to indigence, in the revolution. He died in 1799. 
Mercier was a man of erudition, and one of the firft biblio¬ 
graphers in Europe. His works are, 1. Letters on the 
Bibliography of Debure, 8vo. 2. Letters on the true 
Author of the Political Teftament of Cardinal Richelieu. 
3. Supplement to Marchand’s Hiftory of Printing, 4to. 
4. Letter concerning the Maid of Orleans. 5. Diflertation 
on the Author of the Book on the Imitation of Jefus 
Chrift (Kempis). 6. Notice of a rare Book, entitled 
Pedis A dmiranda, by J. d’Artis. 7. On the Letters at¬ 
tributed to Pope Ganganeili. 8. Letters on different rare 
Editions of the fifteenth Century, 8vo. 9. Library of 
Romances, tranflated from the Greek, 2 vols. &c. He was 
concerned in the Journal de Trevoux, and the Magazin 
Encyclopedique. 
MER'CIFUL, adj. Compaffionate; tender ; kind ; un¬ 
willing to punifli; willing to pity and fpare.—Be merciful, 
O Lord, unto thy people thou halt redeemed. Dcut, xxi. 8. 
Obferve his providence; on him depend, 
Merciful over ail his works 5 with good 
Still overcoming evil. Milton. 
MER'CIFULLY, adv. Tenderly 5 mildly; with pity; 
■with compafTion.—Make the true ufe of tliofe afflictions 
which his hand, mercifully fevere, hath been pleafed to 
lay upon thee. Atterbury. 
MER'CIFULNESS,/ Tendernefs ; willingnefs to fpare. 
—The band that ought to knit all thole excellencies to¬ 
gether is a kind mercifulnefs tofuch a one, as is in his foul 
devoted to fuch perfections. Sidney. —Ufe the means ordi¬ 
nary and lawful, among which mercifulnefs and liberality 
is one, to which the promife of fecular wealth is moll fre¬ 
quently made. Hammond. - 
To MERCIFY, v. a. [from mercy. To pity : 
But loe ! the gods, that mortal follies vew, 
Did worthily revenge this mayden’s pride ; 
And, nought regarding her fo goodly hew. 
Did laugh at her that many did deride, 
Whileft Ihe did weepe of no man mercif.de. Spcnfer. 
MEE/CILESS, adj. Void of mercy; pitilefs; hard¬ 
hearted ; cruel; fevere.'—Whatever ravages a mercilefs 
diftemper may commit, Ihe fhall have one man as much 
her admirer as ever. Pope. 
The torrent mercilefs imbibes 
Commiffions, perquifites, and bribes. Swift. 
MER'CILESSLY, adv. In a manner void of pity. 
MER'CILESSNESS, /'. Want of pity. 
MER'CKENDORF, a town of Germany, in the marg- 
gravate of Anfpach : feven miles fouth-eaft of Anfpach. 
MERCK'LEIN (George Abraham), a learned phyfi- 
cian, and fon of a phylician of the fame name, was born 
at Weiffemburg, in Franconia, in November 1644. His 
early education was conduced by his father; but he was 
afterwards fent to the universities of Nuremberg and 
Wittemberg, and thence to that of Padua, which was 
then in th'e highelt reputation; he returned, however, to 
Altorf, where he took his doftor’s degree in 1670. He 
fucceecled his father, in 1683, in the office of phyfeian to 
the Teutonic order of the houfe of Nuremberg, and was 
fubfequentiy appointed firlt phylician to two princes pa¬ 
latine, who were grand matters of this order. He palled 
a iifb of great activity ; and is faid to have brought on a 
confumption by the extreme ardour with which he pur¬ 
ified his occupations, which terminated his life in April 
1702, at the age of fifty-eight. Mercklein was admitted 
a. member of the Academy Naturae Curioforum, under 
Vol.XV. No. X030. 
M E R 
the title of Chiron, and communicated many memoirs 
on medical fubjeCls, which were publilhed in their Ephe- 
merides. He was alfo author and editor of the following 
works: 1. TraClatio Medica curiola de ortu et occafu 
Transfufionis Sanguinis; Nuremberg, 1679, 171s; in 
which he gives a hiftory of this invention, and exprefies 
forcibly his difapprobation of the practice. 2. Jofephi 
Pandolpliini a Monte Martiano TraClatus de Ventofitatis 
Spinas, fieviffimo Morbo ; ibid. 1674. 3. Lindenius reno- 
vatus; an augmented edition of the work of J. Antony 
Vander Linden (fee Linden, vol. xii. p. 740.) De Scnptis 
Medicis, 2 vols. 4to. 1686. _ 4. Sylloge Cafuum Medicorum 
Incantationi vulgo adferibi folitorum maximeque prse 
casteris memorabilium, ibid. 1698, 1715,410. Gen. Biog. 
MERCCEU'R, a town of France, in the department of 
the Correze: eighteen miles fouth of Tulle. 
MERCU'RIAL, adj. [mercurialis , Lat.] Formed un¬ 
der the influence of Mercury; aCtive; fprightly.—Tully 
confidered the difpofitions of a fincere, more ignorant, 
and lefs mercurial, nation, by dwelling on the pathetic 
part. Swift. 
I know the lhape of’s leg: this is his hand. 
His toot mercurial , his martial thigh 
The brawns of Hercules. Shahefpcare's Cymleline. 
Confiding of quickfilver: as, Mercurial medicines. 
MERCU'RIAL, J\ A preparation of mercury; a me¬ 
dicine in which the chief ingredient is quickfilver. A 
fprightly a drive perfon ; one of a ready wit.—This youth 
was luch a mercurial, as could make his own part, if at 
any time he chanced to be out. Bacon's Henry VII. 
MERCURIA'LE (Girolamo), a very eminent and 
learned phylician, was born at Forli, in Romagna, in 
1530. Where he received his education is not known, 
but it Was probably at Padua; he graduated in phyfic^ 
however, at Venice, in 1555. He fettled firlt in his na¬ 
tive place, by the citizens of which he was delegated on 
fome public bufinefs to pope Pius IV. in 1562. His cha¬ 
racter and talents appeared to fo much advantage at the 
court of Rome, that he w'as honoured with the citizen- 
fliip of that metropolis, and was urged to make it his 
refidence. He w'as particularly efteemed by cardinal 
Alexander Farnele, with whom he made a tour to Sicily. 
During his abode in Rome, he not only employed him- 
felf in profeflional concerns, but paid great attention to 
claflical literature and the monuments of antiquity. His 
lludies of this kind enabled him to compofe the learned 
and elegant work which firft rendered him celebrated in 
the literary world, “ De Arte Gymnaftica Libri fex,” 4to. 
firft: printed at Venice in 1569, and frequently reprinted. 
The reputation of this work brought him an invitation, 
in the fame year, to the firll medical chair in the univer- 
fity of Padua, wdiich he accepted, and was fucceffor to 
Anthony Francanzano, a man of fuch high reputation 
that he had been called the Efculapius of his age. The 
character of Mercuriale, however, was not diminilhed by 
the fplendour of that of his predeceflbr; and his fame 
foon extended throughout Europe. In 1573 he was called 
to Vienna by the emperor Maximilian II. to confult re- 
fpedting a fevere iilnels under which that perfonage la¬ 
boured ; and his treatment was fo fuccefsful, that he re¬ 
turned loaded with valuable prefents, and honoured with 
the dignities of a knight and count palatine. He had 
fulfilled the duties of his profeflbrial office during the 
period of eighteen years, and his ftipend had been gra¬ 
dually augmented to a greater fum than had ever been 
allotted to a medical chair, when, in 1587, he removed 
to Bologna, where he was attended by a numerous au¬ 
dience. This removal has been partly attributed to a 
degree of diflatisfadrion or felf-accufation, in confequence 
of an error of judgment, which had been committed by 
him and Capivaccio, feveral years before, when they were 
called to Venice, in order to give their advice reipedting 
a peftilential diforder, which prevailed in that city. On 
tliis occafion both he and his colleague feem to have 
N a fallen 
